The Price of Friendship
by Roaming Writer
Summary: This story details the moments before Max recorded her voice. An emotional one-shot.


**This takes place before the ending of the Farewell episode of Life is Strange Before the Storm with a young Max Caulfield. **

* * *

The dull faded red glow of the sunlight was bleeding through the windows of the small quaint room. It was strange how something so comfortable and so familiar could become so dreadful and somber in a split second.

Max stood at the doorway and soaked the view of the room in. It was empty, minus the swarm of nostalgic memorabilia that was strewn all over the place. Max took a deep breath, still smelling the remnants of the gunpowder from firecrackers in the morning, the remnants of that distinct Chloe odor she learned to love. The smell of her childhood seemed to dance in her mind, the days when she and her "pirate in crime" trekked seawater or dirt into the room, staining it with the distant trials of friendship.

Max was still young, 13 to be exact. But she felt… older. More mature. It seemed as though this morning she was pretending to be a pirate with Chloe but now it all seems so trivial. After death, nothing is the same.

Max's lips began to quiver as her eyes focused on the picture of Chloe, her father, and herself. She didn't know why she was crying. After all, it was a happy moment, the three of them smiling. But reality seeped in. There were only two left, and soon to be one.

Max stepped into the middle of the room and plopped down on the bed, her eyes transfixed on the ceiling. The white ceilings with the same dirty markings as she remembered from her childhood sleepovers here.

Being a teenager, it was difficult to let go of the younger life, but given the circumstances, it was nearly impossible for Max.

_Seattle? What was waiting for me in Seattle? Friends? _

_NO. Chloe was my only friend, my true friend._

Max stood up and walked towards the mirror, but instead of seeing herself, she saw faint images of a younger Chloe and Max.

"_You try it on!"_

"_No you!"_

"_My dad will KILL me if he knows I have his hat"_

"_CHLOE? MAX?"_

"_QUICK QUICK HIDE IT"_

As the memories faded, Max was met by her own freckled face, but it was red and swollen, filled to the brim with tears. Max reached her hand to her ponytail and undid it, revealing an undercut that just reached her shoulders. It's better this way, she thought. Chloe always told her she looked cuter with her hair down, but she never really took that advice to heart. After all, she could never convince Chloe to dye her hair blue.

She chuckled, knowing full well that an A+ goodie-two-shoes student like Chloe would never do something as punk as that.

Max sat down on the floor and leaned back on the piles of clean clothes, which were victim to the two girls' recent dress-up contest.

She closed her eyes, imagining their future. Chloe, she thought, would be a scientist studying as a pharmacist perhaps. After all, she did love chemistry. And Max would be a world famous photographer, her photos being framed in art galleries around the world.

But there was something depressing about this. Where would Chloe be in her life? Where would Max be in hers?

Max opened her eyes again, which was still filled with so much water that it temporarily distorted her vision. But then she noticed on the bed, a voice recorder.

Max walked over, her knees weak and seemingly about to give out at any point in time.

Max tried to stay strong, but her legs buckled and she collapsed, her sobbing filling the place she used to find solace in. The place she would come to when she DIDN'T want to cry. And she pressed the record button.

"_Hey... Chloe... this is Max. I guess I just wanted to leave you one more message. Because I know this was the absolute worst time for me to go. I thought maybe, if you heard my voice it could be a little bit like I was there. I don't know, maybe this was a dumb idea. I would give anything to be there with you now. It's so hard, trying to say what I'm thinking. If I could just see you... But we'll get good at it-great at it! We'll write and talk all the time. And then you'll come visit and it'll be like I never left. I mean it, you don't have to worry about anything changing. You're dealing with so much other stuff. You don't deserve any of this. Chloe, listen. Even if I never-even if we're moving for good... We're always together, okay? Even when we're apart. We're still Max and Chloe. I will always, always love you. Goodbye._"

For all they'd been through, it was hard to end on a 'goodbye.'

But I guess that's the price of friendship. The more you love, the more it hurts.


End file.
